Before I start to gush about Heather and Gary’s incredible wedding (because it deserves lots of gushing!) I wanted to say a huge thank you to every one of you lovely and very supportive readers who read my last post, commented and sent me a message. You are such a genuinely delightful bunch and I am very grateful for all of your thoughts – I have also began a list of potential babysitters, like I said, you’re all very generous and giving, haha!

Back to today and I am so happy to share Heather and Gary’s wedding, it is so warm and heartfelt and will make you smile no matter your mood! Bursting with style and elegance, every detail from the floral bouquets and table decor, to the bridesmaids sparkly dresses and Heather’s Badgley Mischka dress is gorgeous, and of course not forgetting the beautiful images captured so perfectly by Kirsty-Lyn Jameson.

Couple: Heather + Gary Haire

“Gary and I first dated when we were 17/18 for a few years. Things didn’t work out then and we parted ways. On a night out in 2011 we happened to bump into each other and things went from there. We knew almost straight away that it was serious and that we were back together for good this time!”

Proposal: Gary and I were on a night away in the Galgorm on Monday 21st July 2014. We were just back up into our room after a day of pampering in the spa and just before we went down for dinner, I turned round and Gary was down on one knee.

Our Planning: The day came together with a lot of help from my sister Gillian who is wedding obsessed! Gary and I had all these ideas of what we wanted for the wedding but no idea where to start so Gillian was able to put these ideas into action. The venue was probably our biggest expense but once we viewed Riverdale Barn we knew we wouldn’t be happy with anywhere else. We didn’t set a budget although we knew what was too expensive. As we both work full time we were able to save quite a bit of money from when we got engaged up until the wedding. Both our parents were extremely generous which helped out a lot and meant there wasn’t anything we had to do without.
We didn’t really have a theme; I kept going along with the idea of the inside of the barn looking like the outside – green everywhere along with candles. We also had grey tablecloths, I loved the colours of the flowers and greenery against the grey.

Our Style: I purchased my dress from Petticoat Lane in Hillsborough. I originally had my eye on a dress by Enzoani but when I tried it on my family weren’t fussed on it for me as it’s not my usual style. I then tried on my dress and just fell in love with it, it’s called the Crawford dress by Badgley Mischka. I also purchased my shoes from the same designer.
I always had in my head that I didn’t want the usual bridesmaid dresses so I opted for sequins! And I’m so glad I did as the girls looked amazing. Their dresses were by Sorella Vita and we purchased those from Forever Bridal in Belfast. For the guys Gary and I decided we wanted a nice stylish black fitted suit. Gary actually had his made to measure and all the suits were from Groom in Banbridge and they couldn’t have been more helpful.

Our Highlights: The day was perfect, we wouldn’t change a thing, although my nephew fell into the pond at Riverdale, apart from having to make a dash home to get changed he was fine and we can laugh about it now! Everyone commented how relaxed and informal the day was. Seeing our daughter Lexi (who has spina bifida) walk down the aisle was the biggest highlight - there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

Our Advice: If you have the money to employ a wedding planner, do it! Just hand over your ideas and all the work - I’m not an organiser so I didn’t enjoy all the planning, although my sister really did!
Try not to leave anything out as you don’t want to look back and regret a single thing. If there’s something you have your heart set on it book it as soon as possible.